The Dying Screwbean Mesquite

News of the desert from Sierra Club California & Nevada Desert Committee JUNE 2021 DESERT REPORT

BY SUSAN SORRELLS THE DYING SCREWBEAN MESQUITE

An approach to solving the mystery

IN THE LAST SEVERAL DECADES there has been a concern about the die-off of several species that have been iconic in the southwest desert. One of these species is the screwbean mesquite (Prosopis pubescens). In 2007 Bertin W. Anderson documented a dramatic decrease of screwbeans along the Colorado River from Bullhead City to Yuma. In 2014 Steven E. Foldi published a more regional study of the decline. Although there were other papers, these two researchers especially sounded the alarm among scientists, program managers, private property owners and citizens that the southwest was in danger of losing one of its iconic species. I have taken this concern seriously and personally since there has been a die-off on our family land; I am the fourth generation in Shoshone. I grew up riding my horse in the Shoshone Wetlands and camping overnight with my brother and our friends in the nearby clay hills. My other playground was Shoshone Spring where we made forts among the tall willows and had names for all the birds and other creatures that also made their home there. I went away to school in my early teens and, after graduating from college on the east coast, travelled throughout the United States Screwbean Mesquite Bloom. Photo by Susan Sorrells and the world. When I returned home in the late seventies, I PAGE 6 A VOICE FOR OUR BY MONIKA VON BEHR PUBLIC LANDS IN LOVE WITH DEATH VALLEY A visitor from Europe

IT WAS IN 2011, on a research-trip for a documentary, that my husband and I saw Death Valley for the first time. It was love at first glance: the overwhelm- ing space, melting into a bluish infinity, surrounded by far away mountain ranges, vaulted by an enormous unlim- ited sky. We never had seen any place like this. And the silence! Just the wind swishing over the plains. Two days earlier we had arrived in Las Vegas – this hyped-up and noisy fake-city. Coming from Europe, for us it was a rather strange and stressful arrival after a twelve-hour flight. All this luminous advertising – water games, Palace-Hotels disguised as Roman or Egyptian buildings, music, bars and casinos, people crowding the sidewalks, too many impressions at once driving us crazy. We were happy to leave the next morning, heading towards the Mojave-desert. I was working on a documentary about the Santa Ana winds and knew Zabriskie Point after a rain, Death Valley NP. Photo by Neil Nurmi, NPS. that they originate in the Great Amer- ican Basin – the huge desert-system in the American West, a 200,000 square mile area between the Sierra Nevada IN THIS ISSUE and the Rocky Mountains. For the shooting however, I needed a defined and impressive spot which would give me the The Dying Screwbean Mesquite Pg 1 possibility of producing great pictures. In Love With Death Valley: A Visitor From Europe Pg 2 That’s why I chose Death Valley. The Climate Costs of Tourism Pg 3 Concerning the shooting, a good Save The Planet and Spare The Desert! Pg 4 choice. But this visit had a much deeper Trump’s Border Legacy and a Civics Lesson Pg 8 impact on my husband and me. Protecting Sage Grouse Habitat Pg 12 Within the valley we were shrinking, dwarfed by the massive profiles of the Another Presence on the Mexican Border: Respect For Lives and For The Land Pg 14 landscape. Tiny little beings in this Desert Updates Pg 16 borderless space – without any signs of Conservation Bills Before Congress Pg 18 PAGE 10

2 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 A VOICE FOR OUR BY STEVE HOLLENHORST PUBLIC LANDS THE CLIMATE COSTS OF TOURISM We are all locavists now – let’s stay that way!

Illustration by Birgitta Jansen

WE’VE ALL THOUGHT IT while stuck called The Trouble with Tourism where visit, we ironically are hurting our home in our contracted pandemic worlds of we argued that in the age of climate places and killing the planet. home, zoom meetings, grocery runs, and change, airline-based tourism is simply So we posed an alternative – locav- local exercise circuits. We can’t help but not justifiable. As one of the world’s ism – as a “de-growth” strategy for the think, “I can’t wait to travel again.” Like largest industries, tourism is also one of high-carbon, distant travel model of starving castaways, we fantasize over the largest emitters of carbon, primarily tourism. Breaking the oil dependence the places we will go, things we will see, from air transport. We like to regard that haunts tourism would only occur, people we will meet. The travel bug is tourism as a green island in the polluted we argued, when local places are consid- so deeply ingrained in our collective sea of our post-industrial economy, as an ered equally worthy of our wonder and psyche that to many the pandemic travel alternative to and an escape from the ex- respect. Such an approach is analogous restrictions have felt like a grievous cesses of modern life. The reality is that to the local food movement, where local- loss. Even folks living in or near the vast tourism is quite profoundly a creation of ly produced food is favored over global public lands of the desert southwest our oil-dependent economy and cannot food systems controlled by multinational are hungry to get back in an airplane to be an antidote to the very stiff of which corporations. The word locavore literally venture further afield. it is made. means ”local eater.” Thus, we called As we start jumping on airplanes We also contended that to the extent a bioregional, or homeplace, tourist a again, everything will be comfortably tourism functions as escape from the ills locavist, or “local viewer.“ familiar, and we’ll thrill to the newfound of our petroleum-driven life, it detracts The article was mostly a thought mobility we’ve longed for. We’ll soon be critical attention and investment from piece. We knew that unwinding the reminded of the downsides: cramped our home places and communities. industrial carbon-dependent tourism airplanes, crowded destinations, rushed Local place attachment is critical to juggernaut was idealistic and unlikely to itineraries, and of course the financial pro-community and pro-environmental happen anytime soon. costs – plane tickets, car rental, gas behaviors. The irony of tourism is that And then came the pandemic. and parking, overpriced hotels and it encourages indifference and detach- At the height of the lockdown, restaurants. ment from our homeplaces, everyday international airline travel fell by 98% When that happens, we’ll realize experiences, and local cultures. Tourism and domestic travel by 87% from 2019 that something good has come from this to distant places disrupts local place levels. Overall, for the year airline travel forced immobility, a skill and talent that attachment by privileging distant, exotic fell by 60% for the year, with 1.8 billion we should hold onto in the aftertimes. places. passengers compared to 4.5 billion the We’ve learned that we don’t need to This mindset tends to limit our previous year. Carbon emissions from travel, at least nowhere near as much or homeplaces to the mundane of family aviation also fell by about 60%, more as far as we used to. By necessity, we’ve life, while holding back some part of than any other transportation sector. begun to discover our homeplaces – to ourselves for “other” places that we’ll The result was a sort of forced find wonder and adventure right out one day visit. In imagining that we must experiment of the locavism idea. Over- our front doors. We gave up tourism for travel to these “other” places, something night, people quit getting on airplanes locavism, and we transformed ourselves is stolen from our homeplaces. By idol- and started walking, biking, and driving from tourists to locavists. With this new- izing “other” places, tourism encourages to local (within a day’s round-trip drive) found capacity, hopefully we will soon us to set unrealistic standards of what destinations. Just like we reinvented the ask ourselves, why do we subject our- constitutes a “good place.” In its siren workplace, we reinvented our recre- selves to all this air travel? Why indeed. song of escape, its beguiling mask of ation to take place closer to home. (More A few years before the pandemic, sustainability, and with the comfort we Popular than Ever: Increased Visitation my colleagues and I wrote an article are doing good for the distant places we PAGE 20

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 3 BY JOAN TAYLOR SAVE THE PLANET AND SPARE THE DESERT! The desert is in the crosshairs again

WHAT DOES TURNING OFF THE LIGHTS will come from new “customer-side” expansive forests of turbines, all of when you leave the room have to do solar (e.g., “rooftops”) as compared to a which need to be supported by miles of with preserving wild spaces? Everything. whopping 70,000 megawatts from new access roads fragmenting habitat. And Here’s why. “large-scale” solar (mostly huge remote the 50-story-high turbines have propeller California has adopted very aggres- solar projects). That equates to half a tips moving at nearly 200 MPH which sive decarbonization goals: to abandon million acres, or early 800 square miles can kill untold numbers of unsuspecting fossil fuels and meet all electricity of land covered with solar panels! birds and bats. demand by 2045 while simultaneously As for the Good: Done right, geother- achieving a massive new “electrifica- Large Renewables: the Good, the Bad mal energy is surprisingly benign, creat- tion” of homes, stores, industry, and tens and the Ugly ing minimal land burden and mitigable of millions of vehicles, all with “100% Let’s start with the Ugly: Mega solar. waste and air quality issues. However, clean energy. “If this is done wrong, it The solar industry and utilities love to the known geothermal potential in Cali- will end up more than doubling current site solar farms in the desert where the fornia is only a few thousand megawatts. electrical power needs with multiple sun shines bright, and where they can So while geothermal is reliable energy unintended consequences. grab pristine public land to deploy multi- and needed to stabilize a renewable According to state energy agencies if square-mile projects. When it comes grid, it can only meet a small fraction of we truly “electrify everything” and shut to large-scale renewable energy, solar electric demand. down fossil fuel power plants and dis- installations are by far the most de- allow biofuels, we would need 170,000 structive. Even if solar farms profess to The Myths Around “Big Solar” megawatts of new renewable power “mow” vegetation rather than scraping Economies of scale may make “Big infrastructure, plus tens of thousands the desert bare, the native vegetation Solar” somewhat cheaper to construct, of megawatts of energy storage. This is gets shaded by millions of panels and the but placing solar projects far out in the an absolutely staggering amount of new project is crisscrossed with maintenance desert shows a fundamental misunder- infrastructure when you consider that a roads, destroying the fragile desert eco- standing of photovoltaic energy (PV). typical natural gas power plant is only a system that takes millennia to recover. Like cell phones, PV is by its very nature few hundred megawatts. Now for the Bad: Although lighter geographically flexible. Data from the To meet the mandate of 100% on the terrain, wind farms consume National Renewable Energy Laboratory clean energy, the state energy agencies more land than solar per megawatt of shows the potential for 130,000 mega- contemplate that only 30,000 megawatts energy produced. That’s why we see watts of rooftop solar capacity in Califor-

The ugly The bad The good Photo by Craig Deutsche

4 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 nia. Placing solar panels on our homes, parking lots, warehouses, etc., is called distributed solar, because it’s generated where the energy is consumed. Distrib- uted solar is less vulnerable to problems with the larger electric grid and im- proves energy security for communities, especially when coupled with battery storage. Contrary to utility claims, distributed solar does not burden non-solar ratepayers. Rather, it helps to relieve us of the costs of an ever-growing and inefficient long distance transmission grid, to say nothing of reducing fire risk caused by sparking power lines. Energy produced where it is used So, given the advantages of distributed solar, we need to ask: Why are we tethering solar energy to long distance including low-income customers. With- if you get on their email list: Solar Rights transmission? The simple answer is out DER, demand will keep ratcheting Alliance at https://www.solarrights.org because it’s obscenely profitable for the upward and in return we will be forever and Clean Coalition at https://clean-coali- big utilities. More on this below. chasing moving goalposts to decarbon- tion.org ize. Ever-growing demand will make it The Ultimate Free Lunch harder and more costly to achieve the Let’s Do it Right There are good, bad and ugly ways state’s climate goals. While DER can’t obviate the con- to ramp up renewables, but when it So why hasn’t the state prioritized struction of all new large-scale solar and comes to energy, the only true “free energy efficiency and fast-tracked solar wind projects, we need to prioritize DER lunch” is simply to use less; either on rooftops, etc? Because, while the if we’re going to minimize the need for through energy efficiency or through big investor-owned utilities and their mega renewables. Where does Sierra conservation – for example, insulating ostensible regulator, the Public Utilities Club stand on DER? In written national a roof or turning up the thermostat a Commission (PUC), give lip service to Club policy, tools like energy efficiency few degrees in summer. California has DER, they all too frequently disfavor it in and distributed generation are definite- been a leader in energy efficiency, but their official comments and decisions. ly preferred over building new solar it’s failing to meet its goals. For example, Why? First, the utilities make farms, but few staff resources have been state law mandates doubling additional profits by building new infrastructure devoted to advancing these tools. And a energy efficiency savings in buildings like substations and transmission lines big unintended consequence of one of between 2015 and 2030, but lately state because they are guaranteed a generous the Club campaigns, “Electrifying Every- policy makers have been neglecting annual return on investment for capital thing,” is to actually increase electricity this goal. projects. Second, they get to send out demand! We know we need to get off fos- To compound things, given the pres- monthly bills to customers for deliver- sil fuels — but saving the land itself must sure to “electrify everything,” the state’s ing that electricity in ever increasing remain a core environmental mission. existing energy efficiency targets simply amounts, amounting to many billions of In an effort to help spare the desert aren’t up to the task. We can and must dollars per year. And third, all too often and other wild spaces, the state of do more. Prioritizing energy conserva- there is a “revolving door” between the California must prioritize Distributed En- tion and efficiency not only helps protect big utilities and the PUC, where Commis- ergy Resources. Emphasizing DER helps the desert, but it will also save utility sioners have come straight from the very control demand, keeps energy costs in customers billions of dollars, making industry they are now regulating. check, increases energy security, pro- decarbonization more palatable – finan- Here’s the main takeaway: we need vides community jobs and other benefits cially and politically. to realize that this is a political issue and of local energy, and – along with sparing start to apply focused political heat on the desert – DER ensures that our transi- Distributed Energy Resources (DER) the Governor and other electeds. We’re tion away from fossil fuels is financially vs. the Big Utilities seeing industry-backed legislation and and politically feasible. If California is Distributed solar, energy conser- regulations that are touted as helping to become the model of decarbonization vation, battery storage, efficiency, and ratepayers, but are actually a veiled for the nation and perhaps the world, similar tools like demand-response attempt to kill rooftop solar and limit the then let’s be sure to do it right! pricing are collectively dubbed Distrib- implementation of DER. It’s admittedly uted Energy Resources, or DER. DER is confusing to wade through the technical Joan Taylor has been a Sierra Club activ- absolutely essential to control electrical jargon and industry-sponsored hype. So ist for five decades and is currently Chair demand, and to spare the integrity of the here are a couple of go-to organizations of the California/Nevada Desert Energy desert and the ratepayers’ pocketbooks, that will send you focused action alerts Committee, among other Club positions.

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 5 THE DYING SCREWBEAN MESQUITE PAGE 1

for the Amargosa River for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), he, along with his colleagues, organized the Screwbean Mesquite Die-off Working Group com- posed of representatives from state and federal agencies, academia, non-profit constituents, and private landowners. After a day of vigorous discussion and a field trip to Shoshone Wetlands, it became clear, as with so many phenom- ena where species are disappearing, that there were many possible causes. Still, there seemed to be several prominent causes that changed from geographic location to location. Although the defini- tive reason for the screwbean die-off remains unknown these prominent causes are: Chemical use; Pathogens such as fungus, disease or insect; Development, Dead Screwbean Mesquite next to Salt Cedar Chippings. Degradation of the soil; and Changes in All photos by Susan Sorrells hydrology. In addition, after research progressed another prominent cause was appalled by the damage that had dertook this project. After several years, emerged, this being negative shifts in the been done to the environment, almost it appeared that there was progress in ecosystem. For example, there has been exclusively by salt cedars (genus Tam- eradicating the salt cedars but, because an alarming decline in the population of arix). I was beginning to manage our of some regrowth, a decision was made bees in southern Nevada that only pol- family businesses that were struggling to treat the emerging shoots with an her- linate mesquites. This decline of bees is because of the collapse of the mining bicide applied with a large spraying ap- documented in Pollination Ecology, Final industry but felt that it was nevertheless paratus. This was the same method that important to allocate some resources had been used to treat a salt cedar infes- to restoring these damaged ecosystems tation at Ash Meadows. But less than six at Shoshone Springs and Shoshone months after this massive application Wetlands. of herbicide in the Shoshone Wetlands, I was very fortunate that I had several disturbing trends appeared. become acquainted with many govern- The first indication that something was ment scientists and project directors, amiss was that previously healthy old including representatives from the U S growth screwbean mesquites began to Fish and Wildlife (USFW), the Califor- look sickly. At the same time the Am- nia Department of Fish and Wildlife argosa Pupfish that had been prolific (CDFW), and the Natural Resource Con- in the Shoshone Wetlands were disap- servation Service (NRCS). As a team, the pearing. Within two years, most of the group was making significant headway screwbeans were dead and the pupfish in restoring the Shoshone Spring, and had completely disappeared. Len War- in the process had changed the status ren, who was doing bird surveys in the of the Shoshone Pupfish Cyprinodon( Amargosa Basin, was very concerned by nevadensis shoshone) from extinct to this die-off and sounded the alarm. prolific. But there remained the daunt- At first it seemed clear that the ing challenge of restoring the Shoshone die-off was a direct consequence of the Wetlands. use of the herbicide. A die-off at the The first and most important step Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was to eradicate the salt cedars. reinforced this conclusion, but after re- Fortunately, through a series of search by Warren and others, it became grants made possible by the Bureau of evident that there was a regional die-off Land Management (BLM), USFW, CDFW across the entire southwest. When Healthy Screwbean Mesquite in and NRCS, a consortium of partners un- Warren became the Project Manager the Wetlands

6 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 Report, 2003 Biennium, Clark County, Nevada. As a result of this additional research, some scientists began studying the entire ecosystem that surrounds the screwbean mesquite to examine whether there are still other indications that the ecosystem itself is being damaged. In this scenario, the screwbean mesquite is “the canary in the coal mine.” In this last year USFW and TNC have formed a partnership to become proactive in studying the screwbean on the ground with the hopes of reversing the environmental damage caused the die-off. The project proposed by this partnership is to restore screwbean mesquite bosques by planting new trees in areas where there was die-off and then monitoring them to learn more about the tree and about maintaining their longevity. This project also will Shoshone Wetlands restore the important desert habitat of screwbean mesquite bosques that are so crucial for the survival of birds and reported that he recently has observed healthy trees that may be genetically other fauna. a substantial recovery of the screwbean robust, and to use experienced people to Shoshone Village will join this mesquite in southern Nevada. Deus- conduct long term oversite. partnership by working together to er has had hands on experience with It is hoped that through the collab- plant over 100 screwbean mesquites in restoring damaged ecosystems for many oration of scientists, project directors, the Shoshone Wetlands as our wetlands years and has had great success. He nonprofit organizations, and private have the environmental elements that recently has assisted in coordinating na- property owners, the story of the can support their growth. As volunteers, tive plant restoration, including screw- screwbean mesquite will have a happy personnel at Shoshone Village will bean mesquites, at the Clark County ending and possibly serve as a model for monitor these plantings for at least five Wetlands Park and on the Muddy River the management of other iconic desert years. Presently we, at Shoshone Village, where, after restoration, the screwbeans species that are threatened. are also inventorying screwbean mes- are robust. His advice for those embark- quites that are growing naturally in the ing on restoration projects is to employ Susan Sorrells is a fourth generation wetlands after the die-off. This “boots a particular known and proven planting resident of Shoshone and is an active on the ground” approach will provide methodology, to gather a team that is proponent for preservation of habitat and data over a period of time as a Citizen multi-disciplinary, to collect seeds from history in the Amargosa Basin. Scientist project. On a much broader basis, Warren with TNC also is initiating a Citizen Scientist project throughout the southwest by implementing iNaturalist as a tool to empower residents to report the health of screwbean mesquites in their area. Although the involvement of private property owners and citizens in regions where the screwbean mesquite is found represents a positive step toward solving the mystery, there is still more good news about this species. Curt Deuser, who works for the National Park Service as Supervisory Restoration Ecologist and attended the second meeting of the Screwbean Mesquite Pod Screw Mesquite Die-off Working Group,

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 7 BY NICK ERVIN TRUMP’S BORDER LEGACY AND A CIVICS LESSON One citizen can make a difference

HE IS GONE. Yet his legacy, in all too many regrettable ways, visceral feel for their home landscape. They combined that persists. Donald Trump is now a private citizen, but the conse- intimate knowledge with political savvy to become a real force quences of his four year assault on America’s environment live in desert conservation both in their local area as well as in the on to haunt us. entire California desert. The destruction has occurred at so many levels and can Over many years in deeply conservative Imperial Coun- be illustrated by a single overarching issue: the border wall ty, she and Jim waged often lonely battles for conservation with Mexico. You have the racist overtones of his rhetoric and initiatives. They demonstrated real grit in repeatedly facing policy; the suffering of refugees inside Mexico at the border; off against business-friendly county officials and complacent corruption in contracting rules and procedures; lax oversight Bureau of Land Management officialdom. Often quite unglam- of the wall construction itself; illegal diversion of funds from orous, their efforts frequently bore fruit. mandated Defense Department purposes; the waiver of dozens For instance, the Harmons and attorney Larry Silver of respected and longtime protective statutes; the infliction of were the key players in the prolonged and bitter twenty year grievous wounds on national park and wilderness lands; and litigation against U. S. Gypsum that changed the rules on scarce more. groundwater use in the desert. Essentially, through self-ed- Readers of the Desert Report were informed of early de- ucation and deep study, Edie became a recognized expert velopments about the border wall in the Jacumba Mountains on groundwater law in California in order to be an effective Wilderness in articles by activist Edie Harmon (June, 2020) and conservation advocate in the case. The complexity and difficulty Craig Deutsche (September, 2020). Articles have also been published by the small circulation East County Magazine, the Desert Sun daily newspaper in Palm Springs, and the Imperial County newspaper of record. It is all too easy to allow the latest headlines to dominate our attention and consciousness. And today’s news stories can obscure a bigger story, a tale of fierce conservation values at work, lonely persistence, and dogged determination over a long time-scale. Many readers of this publication at least recognize the name of perpetual activist and wilderness advocate Edie Harmon (and her late husband, Jim). I have had the pleasure of knowing Edie over the past thirty years or so. She, Jim, and I worked hard together to help pass the landmark California Des- ert Protection Act of 1994 which, among many other important things, formally created the Jacumba Mountains Wilderness area near their desert home. For decades, Edie Harmon has been a mainstay of the local Sierra Club chapter and the regional Desert Committee on issues large or small pertaining to or affecting our precious desert lands. No one on earth, I daresay, has known or understood the Imperial County desert landscape, physical and political, like the Harmons. From their home base adjoining open public land Edie Harmon at the border wall, covered from the sun five or six miles southeast of the tiny unincorporated commu- (Aug 9,2020) Photo by Nick Ervin nity of Ocotillo, this amazing couple developed a profound and

8 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 of the legal issues involved were almost and decisions. unfathomable and largely, therefore, Most famously perhaps, In furthering a tradition of service, unheralded by all but a few experts. Edie was of paramount this remarkable woman has spent liter- The impact, however, on local ground- importance in killing off a ally hundreds of hours in the last year water use and the larger underlying exploring and documenting border wall legal framework in California, has been proposal by a multinational construction in the Jacumba Mountains enormous. Just the patience involved mining corporation (Glamis at Skull and Davies valleys. It has been over the twenty year battle bespeaks Gold) for a massive cyanide a herculean effort with no shortage of epic determination. risk, both mental and physical. Of neces- As Jim’s health declined in the early heap-leach gold mine at sity, it has required Edie to make many 2000s, Edie spearheaded the crusade Indian Pass in eastern solitary hikes that start even before the that stopped the Wind Zero develop- Imperial County. Once again, sun is up in the morning. At times she ment project (a paramilitary training has pushed the boundaries of her phys- facility disguised as a recreation site) this remarkable woman ical abilities to get information and take proposed for the nearby township of seized the moment, edu- photographs. She has bombarded often Ocotillo. She spent countless hours delv- cated herself thoroughly on indifferent bureaucrats with requests ing into SEC filings that uncovered the and demands for restorative action as shaky finances behind the project. Plus the sometimes arcane legal well as improved transparency and she lobbied local residents and orga- issues, and brought together timely information. nized the opposition in that otherwise a coalition of Indian tribes, Essentially, the story of the Jacum- poor community. ba Mountains and its new border wall Most famously perhaps, Edie was conservation activists, and is the tale, writ large, of government of paramount importance in killing off legal fire power. malfeasance, indifference and cor- a proposal by a multinational mining ruption, as well as cultural and ethnic corporation (Glamis Gold) for a massive callousness. Many of the issues reported cyanide heap-leach gold mine at Indian accomplishments could easily go on. previously in the media remain largely Pass in eastern Imperial County. Once Many involved intense work gradually unchanged except in severity and scope: again, this remarkable woman seized cultivating relationships with sympa- ruination of habitat for an endangered the moment, educated herself thorough- thetic local BLM officials, Border Patrol local desert bighorn sheep herd and of ly on the sometimes arcane legal issues, agents, and local county officials. This a rare plant assemblage of Crucifixion and brought together a coalition of kind of foundation-setting work seldom Thorn; spendthrift waste of precious Indian tribes, conservation activists, and pays immediate dividends and also groundwater from a federally desig- legal fire power. Many a night was spent seldom makes for stories in the press. nated Sole Source Aquifer; massive camping out near Indian Pass around But such a methodical strategy is vital to alteration of the landscape disrupting a campfire, building a coalition and a making impacts on local land use policy PAGE 11 strategy. Given the influence of the 1872 Mining Law, many observers believed it was impossible to stop such a mining operation on public land. That fight was a many years-long effort that survived multiple court challenges by the power- ful mining concern all the way up to the international NAFTA Tribunal. Clearly, it set important and wide-ranging legal precedent. If that were not enough, her efforts battling the giant Mesquite Mine over the years are the stuff of legend. The site of the former mine was planned to take tons of garbage everyday from the Los Angeles area using rail and large dump trucks for transport. Edie’s major efforts set up an eventual settlement which generated five million dollars for desert conservation efforts. Although ultimately unsuccessful, Edie assisted in opposing a huge and ill-advised wind farm project adjacent to the southern border of Anza-Borrego Skull Valley from nearby mountains with wall visible. By Noah Des Rosiers Desert State Park. The list of her many

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 9 IN LOVE WITH DEATH VALLEY PAGE 2

human presence like orchards, fields, barns, hedges or pasture. It was a fasci- nating feeling – a sandcorn in the desert, a drop in the ocean, an unimportant part of a much bigger, older entity. None of our activities mattered, no effort was needed, We simply didn’t count. It is a pleasant feeling I have to admit: the world spins around with or without us. You become humble and awestruck. You slow down. At the very start of the 20th Centu- ry, Mary Hunter Austin wrote, “This is the sense of the desert hills, that there is room enough and time enough.” Time enough – an unfamiliar luxury. We spent a whole day on top of a hill off the beaten track, regarding the deserted landscape, talking once in a while, Sunset in the south end of Death Valley NP. Photo by Neil Nurmi, NPS strolling around a little bit. A member of our family had recently passed away. Spending this day out there in solitude an abundance of water, where you in the hills or other remains of short was healing. wouldn’t find a drop today. Millions of lived attempts to snatch the treasures, There is no comparable spot in years had formed and changed this land- hidden in the ground. Those traces can Central Europe. Here each square meter scape. A lake arose and vanished again be found, as we got to know, even in the has been touched, used, cultivated for within thousands of years. The sea-floor remote backcountry. The boom towns thousands of years – except maybe the became an elevated plain and mountain or mines often lasted only for few years, high mountain peaks. But even the ranges were uplifted. but their rusty remains are still there. rocky and icy summits have been targets And again we had the feeling of The exploitative episode left permanent for alpinists for at least 200 years. There shrinking. Humankind becomes so scars somehow. is no location where you wouldn’t see insignificant regarding the enormous How do you survive in an arid and houses, paths, fences, or other man- expanses of time revealed by geology. relentless region like Death Valley? made structures. The process of moving and chang- Which skills are needed to live in this We came back to Death Valley sever- ing the Earth’s surface still is going on. hostile environment: salty water, un- al times – extending our stay each time We don´t notice it because it’s beyond bearable heat, very few trees or bushes, from a few days up to two weeks – not our capacity of time-experience – except strong winds? This nature is not at all very long for such a place, but impossi- when it happens by catastrophes like nourishing. It’s not rich and generous. bly long for some friends who couldn’t earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or tsu- This barren nature simply doesn’t care imagine what we could possibly do namis. A million years – the blink of an about you, and you have to get that. there. eye in geological terms. Human beings Life here becomes frugal, and We hiked into different canyons like us are only temporary guests on this water is essential for survival. One and admired the astonishing diversity planet. day we were hiking with too little of rock formations, colors, and surfac- On our hikes we were confronted water – scary. Another day we noticed es. We marveled at the layers which on and off with traces of those tempo- five young Asians stuck on the wall had been folded, compressed, piled up rary guests: rusty cans, broken mining of Ubehebe Crater. They had tried to millions of years ago, each layer wit- structures, deserted cabins. Even this climb out neglecting the usual footpath, ness to a geological event. Colors from “empty“ or “unspoiled“ area was not not equipped either for climbing, or pinkish red to green, marble-like white at all untouched. It never had been. for changing temperatures. It was late walls next to rust-colored rock debris, Petroglyphs attest to the people who afternoon, and it became cold very dark walls with smaller or larger white lived here, long before any white man quickly. Now they couldn’t move either stripes, black basaltic rocks next to or woman set foot on this land. Those forth nor backward. They were calling golden sandstone – no piece of art could people apparently were adapted to the for help and terrified … Luckily we met compete with this natural beauty! challenging environment. a rescue team from Yosemite National Polished canyon walls made us And then approximately 160 years Park in the parking lot. They organized aware, that once there was a torrent ago white people seeped in – looking for professional help – but it still took flowing through. Supposedly there was mineral resources. We saw kilns, holes several hours, to get the young people

10 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 A CIVICS LESSON PAGE 9

out. We felt relieved – but angry with the uous city-life may provoke this desire water flow; the absolute tone deafness of amateur-climbers as well. How could nowadays. But on the road we also met responsible federal and county agencies they dare to use the crater wall as a groups of racing bikes, and the busses (but not all of the individuals therein) playground? which brought them in. For these people to the pleas of conservationists for more This is wilderness. It’s overwhelm- the beauty and remoteness of the valley timely information and transparency, ing and dangerous, and you have to was a setting for sporting or advertising et al. approach it with respect. The problem activities and was used as such. Added to the above are newer is: you can easily reach some spots in an We had astonishing encounters with worries uncovered during the last six air conditioned car, protected against desert-lovers of many different kinds – a months. After much scouting, a sur- heat, chill, and wind. That´s why some Dutch scientist, who tried to come back prisingly dense network of ancient foot people probably are not aware of the to Death Valley every second year after trails in Skull and Davies valleys was dis- risks of this desert – the lack of water, attending a convention in San Fran- covered (often with fresh vehicle tracks the quickly changing weather, secluded- cisco; a barkeeper and his girlfriend; overlying them). Copious numbers of ness, no telephone network, and so on. a waitress from Las Vegas, escaping pottery shards have emerged as well, One day we were looking into a into the desert for a weekend once in a along with other evidence of a long cul- deep and narrow canyon from above while; and volunteers who offered their tural history in the immediate vicinity of – from the Father Crowley View. It was services to maintain the Park. wall construction. Through the agency a sunny day, the canyon filled with We had become desert-lovers of careful Google Earth examination shadow, and we watched some rap- ourselves. It´s a simple life out there: no and ground-truthing, evidence of a large tors gliding along the walls with the cinema, no concerts, no museums, and Native American ceremonial circle has wind. Suddenly an awful roaring and no shopping. You focus on the surround- been located within the wilderness. a fighter-bomber nosedived suicidally ing landscape – its beauty, stillness, Within this past year, Edie has com- into the canyon. Then a second one fol- space – and on yourself. And we’ll never piled a veritable mountain of narrative lowed. We were shocked. It was like in a forget how our friend Birgitta described and photographic data derived from her horror-movie. Out of the blue a sudden it. “It’s the place where the universe usually solitary sojourns. The incredi- attack. kisses the earth.” bly detailed reports alone that she has Later on we learned, that huge submitted to the Department of Home- areas nearby were closed for public, Monika von Behr is a film maker living in land Security, Army Corps of Engineers, because of military use. What a dis- Bremen Germany. As her essay indicates, the Border Patrol, and local BLM over turbing contrast: the peaceful stillness she has visited Death Valley National the past year take up hundreds of pages. and loneliness of the desert interrupted Park a number of times. Moreover, she has managed to persuade by the uproarious training for a war! senior officials to accompany her on foot It seemed to us, that the empty space to the wilderness in order to view the – landscape in abundance – which we construction damage for themselves. loved and enjoyed so much, raises and Finally, she has convinced outside jour- always has raised the desire to make use nalists to come and see the border wall of it somehow: gold, silver, borax, talc, impacts and write about them. training spots for military use, or pure In the end, this is a hopeful story of excitement. brave and assertive American civics in Our last visit in Death Valley was practice. The stark lesson is: protection 2017. We noticed a change. There had of our public lands cannot be left to the been an extraordinary blooming the judgment of elected officials and profes- year before and since then people sional environmental advocates only. crowded in. Still we were able to hike into canyons or up to a peak without Nick Ervin is a retired counselor and meeting any other person. Again we desert rat who has lived in San Diego and could listen to the silence, to the gentle explored the local arid lands for over 40 swishing of the wind, smell the aromatic years. From 1995 through 2000 he served odor of the creosote-bushes. on the U. S. Bureau of Land Manage- People have traditionally gone into ment’s California Desert District Advisory the wilderness to escape society, culture, Council. or convention. That’s why hermits often choose the desert – to reduce the impact Mojave Indian paintbrush of social life and to expose themselves (Castilleja plagiotoma), Death instead to extraordinary mental and Valley NP. Neil Nurmi, NPS physical experiences. Modern stren-

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 11 BY JAMES CATLIN PROTECTING SAGE GROUSE HABITAT Fact-checking the BLM

IN 2011, THE DESERT REPORT published my article on citizen the Duck Creek Allotment failed to meet their rangeland health science in the Duck Creek Grazing Allotment located in northern standards due to degraded riparian areas, and that livestock Utah. The degraded habitat found in the allotment demonstrates grazing was a factor. Our data also showed that the tall grass a widespread problem found over much of the western sage and forb cover needed for sage grouse was also significantly steppe. This degradation is a major cause for the continuing reduced. To address riparian problems, BLM and the local decline of the numbers of sage grouse. The long history of ranchers established a four-pasture deferred grazing system engagement to promote sage grouse in Duck Creek provides that would graze the same number of cattle and sheep as before, insight into problems widely found. As this is being written, but now would graze only for one month per year in each pas- we are seeing a new administration and a new direction for ture. Our citizen research hoped to assess whether such a new wildlife and wildlands management. Duck Creek can serve as an grazing program could lead to ecological recovery of this area. excellent model and demonstrate the opportunity. As our monitoring progressed, we supplied BLM and the permit Unusual among birds, sage grouse depend on consuming holder each year with our data. Based on four years of data, we sagebrush year round. But in the spring, summer, and fall, they found that conditions had not improved measurably and, espe- need more than sagebrush. For their young to survive, they de- cially in riparian areas, grazing use remained excessive. In 2008, pend on the tall perennial grass, forbs, and insects1 found in the John Carter (who represents the Western Watersheds Project) interspaces between sagebrush plants. Healthy productive ri- and I (with Wild Utah Project) appealed BLM’s decision to keep parian areas also play an important role for sage grouse. Guided the cattle and sheep stocking number the same, but following a by science2, managers have developed measurements that show deferred grazing system. whether the habitat has the characteristics that sage grouse need. Our field work in the Duck Creek Allotment augmented U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) surveys to see if sage grouse needs were being met. Beginning in 2004, we established seventeen data collection sites. For some of the data, we used protective cages (as seen in the photo), where we collected objective measurable data. For comparison, we also measured nearby sites that were not caged. By comparing grazed with ungrazed samples, we were able to measure the amount of herbaceous plant consumption by large wild and domestic grazers. The data we collected showed that utilization at the site in the photo was 97%, well above BLM’s resource management objective of no more than 50% use. We found that the grazing use, both in riparian areas and often in upland areas, commonly exceeded BLM’s management objectives. In the appeal, BLM disagreed and presented subjective agency assessments that concluded the opposite. In pre-settlement times, the Duck Creek Allotment’s sage steppe was dominated by native bunch grasses that topped the sagebrush. Except for wildlife burrows and wildlife tracks, biological crusts covered the soil surface surrounding plants. Streams lined by willows and cottonwoods meandered through beaver-created meadows. Duck Creek had ducks then. Duck Creek in northeast Utah. Today things are significantly different. BLM found that

12 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 In an appeal, the burden of proof falls on the appellant. filed a complaint in U.S. Federal Court in Utah to overturn this BLM argued that it “is entitled to rely on the professional opin- IBLA decision. Federal Judge Ted Stewart, who was head of Utah ion of its experts . . . where it is reasonable and supported by Department of National Resources from 1993 to 1998 (when he record of evidence.” This hearing focused on this evidence. The was appointed to the federal bench), dismissed the case on Sept hearing transcript was more than 15,000 pages with 375 exhib- 11, 2020. Stewart ruled the issue moot, arguing that BLM had its.3 This 55-day hearing before Administrative Law Judge James renewed the grazing permit in 2018 in Duck Creek unchanged. Heffernan was the most “lengthy and extensive grazing case in They did so without any public involvement or environmental the history of the Department of Cases Hearings Division.”4 analysis (called using a categorical exclusion).10 In actual fact, Judge Heffernan noted, “that Appellants employed an ob- the earlier decision remains in place. At this time most allot- jective, scientific monitoring methodology that was based upon ments, even those that fail to meet rangeland health standards, actual clipping and weighing, that is, actual measurements, are renewed using this categorical exclusion. further contending that the BLM employed a subjective ocular, Now, this case is on appeal to the US Court of Appeals for visual estimation methodology that relied upon the subjective the Tenth Circuit. Advocates for the West are representing the judgment of the particular BLM observer.” Much of both BLM’s Western Watersheds Project in this case, which is scheduled for inventory results and our data for the Duck Creek Allotment are a hearing early this year. presented in two papers cited in the endnotes.5 President Biden’s Executive Order addressing climate As part of the hearing process, Judge Heffernan needed to change calls for putting the country on a “sustainable climate determine if John Carter and I qualified as expert witnesses. pathway” that moves “quickly to build resilience, both at home He noted, “BLM devotes a considerable amount of verbiage in and abroad, against the impacts of climate change.” Degraded its Response Brief in an effort to discredit the expertise of both habitat found on too many BLM lands can be restored, but Drs. Catlin and Carter. However, they both experienced several not by the BLM’s grazing protocol found in the Duck Creek years of on-the-job, on-the-ground training conducting their Allotment. For restoration, objective fact-based field data are extensive monitoring on the allotment, and, in my opinion, required, and ecological restoration needs to be led by experts their testimony is credible with respect to the conditions on the independent from BLM’s range management program. Restor- allotment, particularly in the time frame post-2005, the year in ing the health of habitat is one of the best ways to bring the which BLM conducted most of its monitoring. Indeed, in con- resilience necessary for the native plants and wildlife to better trast, the testimony of (key BLM staff) was at various times no- endure the impacts of climate change. tably uninformed.”6 Heffernan continued that both Carter and Catlin “entitle their testimony to receive reasonable deference.” Jim Catlin has retired from the Wild Utah Project, was a former On May 16, 2013, Judge Heffernan ruled in our favor, re- Sierra Club board member, and is a member of the Sierra Club versing BLM’s grazing permit renewal decision and remanding Grazing Team. Special thanks for the substantial work of Dr. John it back to BLM for further action. BLM immediately appealed Carter, Western Watersheds Project, and Advocates for the West. the ruling of the Office of Hearings and Appeals to the Interior of Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) and received permission to References cited in these articles may be found in the Notes sec- continue management unchanged. tion on the Desert Report website at www.desertreport.org. In September of 2017, the first year of the Trump Ad- ministration, the IBLA reversed Judge Heffernan’s ruling and dismissed our appeal as moot6. You can view the full decision on this link.7 Recognizing that I am biased, here are a few of the reversal arguments. IBLA found Carter and Catlin did not qualify as experts, rejected the field data they collected as unreliable, accepted BLM’s opinions that the allotment was not significantly degraded, concluded that BLM had adequately considered the conservation of sage grouse in their decision, and found no error in BLM’s assessment of habitat conditions. The most important conclusions of this ruling are that BLM’s rangeland health standards8 are optional and could be trumped by earlier BLM commitments in order that “use must be kept in balance with the ability to sustain that use.” In this reversal, IBLA ruled that no regulation “requires BLM to mandate permittee adher- ence to any specific utilization limit, upland or riparian health condition or any other measurable or observable criteria . . . ”9 This reversal strongly reaffirms that BLM staff decisions should receive added preference over conflicting independent scientific evidence. This finding stands in sharp contrast to the direction found in President Biden’s Executive Order for “Re- storing Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking.” Cage used to exclude cattle in grazing study. In 2020, now sixteen years since we started addressing the Photos by Jim Catlin issues in the Duck Creek Allotment, Western Watersheds Project

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 13 BY JAMES CORDERO ANOTHER PRESENCE ON THE MEXICAN BORDER

Respect for lives and for the land

WE ARE BORDER ANGELS, and we leave where in the middle between two United dying or being injured so badly that it life-saving supplies in the desert. States/Mexico international ports of would deter future migrants from cross- The Jacumba Wilderness of Eastern entry, with Calexico/Mexicali in the ing in these near-impossible areas. San Diego County/Imperial County is east and Tecate in the west. In 1994, That is where Border Angels come a beautiful range of mountains, can- the United States government created a in. The Jacumba Wilderness is just one yons, and desert washes, full of endless national policy of “Prevention Through of the many areas of public land where reminders of those Indigenous People Deterrence,” which in part says (and I’m we leave supplies to help minimize that lived in the region before there was summarizing) that there will be border suffering and death. Since 1994, there any colonization or disputes of land fencing and barriers around ports of has been no official count of those who “ownership.” Morteros over to one side, entry separating the two countries, but have died while crossing. Government geological wonders to the other, you only where crossing is relatively “easy.” agencies say around 8,000 people in cannot go far without being captivated The rocky, mountainous terrain, and nearly 27 years. Statistical experts, think in the beauty this wilderness provides. desolate desert valleys would (and in tanks, and those that analyze the border, With all the beauty and wonder, it is some cases still do) have no barrier in estimate over 11,000. Those of us that not widely known that currently, and areas deemed too dangerous or impos- work on the border know it is more than since 1994, this wilderness has served to sible to survive traveling through. With that. A lot more. You will not find this inflict pain and death to those crossing the creation of this national policy, it information on the front page of a news- into the United States from Mexico. was hoped that word would get out paper or on the nightly news. To get the Jacumba Wilderness lies some- about people crossing into this country best information, you will have to listen to those that are out on the front line and do the work. Every week, our groups hike into the Jacumba Wilderness and other public lands to leave water, food, and other essential supplies in an attempt to reduce harm, distress, and death to those crossing into the United States along the border. It does not matter if the weather is below freezing, if there is rain/snow/ ice present, or if the temperature is close to 130 degrees, we are out there. Our team is comprised of hikers with all kinds of experience and abilities. All of our members care for our fellow human beings as well the environment. While some may conclude that the work we do may be considered aiding and abetting, it is just a pure act of love and care, while at the same time an act of resistance to an inhumane immigration Open desert in the Jacumba Wilderness. The only water is what is left. policy that has existed for years. All photos by James Cordero Although our organization was

14 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 tion. Trash is trash. While our primary goal is on removing the used/unused supplies and containers that we have left out, we also remove what we call “artifacts,” or items that once be- longed to migrants that crossed into the United States. We find backpacks, shoes, clothing, food/drink packaging, and personal trinkets to name a few. We also clean up broken targets/shell casings from recreational shooters, apprehension gloves, fast food cups/wrappers, other trash Border Patrol agents discard, trash that border fence construction crews and their private security leaves behind, mylar balloons that once escaped from someone’s grasp after a graduation or during their birthday. We know what is natural and not natural to the environment. We understand the possible impact we could be making on the environment every time we leave supplies out. We expect some of the supplies that we leave will remain as litter, so we keep our eyes peeled all the time for trash. It is mandatory that all members out along a route carries at least two bags to pick up trash. We feel that we need to remove more than we leave behind, to offset what we leave out and make the world a little bit better than we found it . . . even if we have to have encounters where Border Patrol agents follow us and surveille us (insinuating that our see-through bags are a drug smuggling operation) as a way to harass us and deter us from doing our work. We are just people who love the earth and want to protect and care for it. Life saving supplies left by Border Angeles. On a return Our mission is too important. The people we leave the trip the residue will be carried out. supplies for are too important. The environment is too important. We care and love our public lands and wilderness areas, created over thirty years ago, our Water Drop program has only especially the Jacumba Wilderness. been in existence for around five and a half years. Jacqueline Arellano and I are Co-Directors. In these five years, each of us James Cordero is a long-time hiker who loves the outdoors and is have been hiking out supplies around 150 times. By no means a self-taught professional photographer. James has worked with are we experts on the Jacumba Wilderness, but we do know Border Angels for five years and has held the position of Water it pretty darn well, and we have covered hundreds of miles of Drop Co-Director for Border Angels for just about three years. canyons, dry creek washes, and boulder filled mountains, by James and his partner/Co-Director Jacqueline are expecting their foot and by 4x4. Going out to the desert so often, we have de- first child together this summer. veloped a relationship, an unsigned agreement. We take care of the land. We value the land. We have become one with the land. In addition to our efforts to save lives, our entire organization feels this responsibility to the land itself. Within the first year of taking our Water Drops in public, group settings, I was placed in charge of creating a program for trash cleanup and waste removal from the wilderness. Having been a member of another nonprofit that specialized in trash cleanups along trails and other outdoor settings, I took the knowledge I gained from this organization and applied it to our humanitarian work in the desert. On every visit to the desert, we remove trash and other non-natural waste. Whether it is a scouting mission, Water Drop, or camping trip, trash cleanup has come a close second to leaving the life-saving supplies themselves. I am a firm believer that when you are faced with a dire situation, you have a moral responsibility to act on it in a way to improve that situation. With us in the desert, it was leaving life-saving supplies and cleaning up trash. Since our Water Drops started in a public setting in January 2016, our organization has cleaned up over two tons of trash from our public lands and wilderness areas. We are currently on a pace that by the end of 2021 we will have removed over 2,500 pounds of trash this year. 38 pounds of trash removed, Sunday, Jan 17, 2021. The trash that we haul out or recycle knows no discrimina-

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 15 DESERT UPDATES

ment1, and the technical report which they have commissioned Conglomerate Mesa gives 180 pages of detail on every aspect of the proposed 2 Nestled between Owens Lake and Death Valley National Park, operation . The technical report depends largely upon re-eval- Conglomerate Mesa includes 22,500 acres of roadless BLM ter- uation of the raw data produced by the exploratory operations rain – unconfined, rugged, and brimming with desert life and of the three previous companies. The action is being opposed cultural history. Yet, despite the values of this land, Conglom- by several environmental groups and by the Native American erate Mesa is again threatened by the prospect of a large scale, Quechan Tribe. According to a Quechan spiritual leader, Indian open pit cyanide gold mine. Pass is part of the “Trail of Dreams.” In speaking about the land, For those who have followed the issue, you may remem- tribal archaeologist Lorey Cachora said that, “It has windows ber that in 2017, SSR Mining proposed road construction and we can use to go into other worlds. There are dream trails we numerous drill holes to facilitate mineral exploration. The use to learn whatever we need.” (Lorey Cachora, Gold may bury Ridgecrest BLM subsequently restricted SSR Mining’s plan to tribe’s path to its past, High Country News) Currently the El helicopter access only, and the State BLM upheld the decision. Centro Field Office of the BLM is collecting data to evaluate the The statement was clear: no new roads. application. The project is guaranteed to be contentious. In April 2020, K2 Gold, headquartered in Vancouver Cana- da, officially took over the Conglomerate Mesa gold exploration project. Using helicopter access, they have proceeded with the An Error in Past Reporting project which now includes four drill sites and sixteen holes. Additionally they have submitted an expanded proposal request- The September, 2020, issue of the Desert Report carried an arti- ing road construction into the Mesa and another thirty drill sites. cle concerning construction of the border wall in the Jacumba Many wonder if the BLM will hold K2 Gold to their previ- Wilderness Area. Although the thrust of the article remains ous decision of helicopter access only. For the sake of Conglom- unchanged, there are two items that need correction. It was erate Mesa, many hope so. First and foremost, Conglomerate incorrectly stated that bighorn sheep near Skull Valley are not Mesa area represents Indigenous homelands of the Paiute found in the mountains at its eastern edge. It was also incor- Shoshone and the Timbisha Shoshone. Many leaders within rectly stated that few people visited the interior of the Wilder- these tribes have vocally opposed this mining and exploration. ness prior to the initiation of wall construction. In addition to its cultural significance, the area is a botanical This past February and March, Ms Harmon and several oth- oasis and is valued for its recreation. er hikers have reported observations of a ewe group on the east Over the coming months, the BLM will process the expand- of Skull Valley. That this is not anomalous, can be confirmed ed proposal and either publish an Environmental Assessment by consulting data available from the California Department of or Environmental Impact Statement, which will elicit a public Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/ comment period. The people of Inyo County and numerous en- Mammals/Bighorn-Sheep/Desert/Peninsular. Data concerning vironmental organizations are working strenuously to halt the Bighorn Sheep in the Jacumba Wilderness is extensive, and road construction project and additional drilling. Public com- particularly impressive are the detailed maps showing movement is encouraged at all stages of the environmental review ment of radio-collared sheep in the years since 2013. The an- process. nual report for 2017-2018 also reports on page 24 that “Border Subscribe to Friends of the Inyo mailing list to obtain infor- security activity throughout the recovery region is intensive, mation related to upcoming comment periods and engagement. with regular vehicle patrols, foot patrols, and helicopter flights Email [email protected] with any questions. both night and day within lamb-rearing habitat and movement Bryan Hatchell, Desert Policy Associate, Friends of the Inyo corridors in designated wilderness areas.” Readers will find all the details of these annual reports of interest. The conclusions of the article cited in the Desert Report remain: Consequences of the wall construction in the Jacumba California Gold – Again! Wilderness are many and should be of concern. Another Canadian Company is seeking permits to open a gold Craig Deutsche, editor mine near Indian Pass Wilderness in Imperial County, Califor- nia. There have been three previous proposals at this site. The most recent of these, promoted by Glamis Gold, was denied by A Visit to the Yellow Pine Solar Site the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2001, largely on the grounds that it would be impossible to mitigate damage to Na- April 30, 2021 tive American sites and Landscapes. More recently KORE Min- Today at the Yellow Pine Solar site, immediately south of ing Ltd has bought the previously filed claims and is preparing Pahrump NV, there are a dozen or so trucks and jeeps that be- to apply for permit for an open pit, cyanide leach operation long to tortoise biologists. There are no other vehicles around. approximately 30 miles northeast of El Centro, CA. This is the beginning of construction at another industrial scale Their website explains at length the prospects for invest- photovoltaic installation. It is after 1 pm and about 95 degrees.

16 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 They’ve probably been out at work since early morning. I greet addition, a new 29-mile transmission line would be built, as a young woman, both of us smiling. I ask about what’s going on well as fifty miles of new dirt roads. out here, to which she says she is not really sure. The project is located in the heart of the proposed Avi “Are you biologists?” Kwa Ame (Spirit Mountain) National Monument. It would be a “Oh, not really.” permanent visual eyesore to the Mojave National Preserve, the The democratic process has failed on many levels, not the Castle Mountain National Monument, the Wee Thump Wilder- least of which is the public engagement with what will be an ness Area, the community of Searchlight, and drivers on State astronomical, unthinkable, and irreversible change to the land- Route 164 (also known as the Joshua Tree Highway). The region scape and lifestyle in the wonderful Mojave Desert. is home to the highest density of golden eagles in the state, is It was odd walking out onto that big valley, knowing there an important birding area, is a hunting area, and is biologically were others somewhere out there. I finally saw them a mile out, diverse. and then they were gone, and then I looked again and thought Five environmental groups have written letters to BLM it was only Yucca, and then there they were. A lot of time went requesting the project again be denied and placed on a low by when I thought I hadn’t seen them. It was because of the priority list. curvature of the earth, because of the washes (which are ap- Judy Bundorf, Board Member Basin & Range Watch parently presenting a great obstacle for the construction of the *The Swedish word “Kulning” is defined as a herding call thing too). for cattle and sheep. We have had two rallies on this site, in February and March of this year, and both of them were accompanied by an enormous wind. The wind is the desert’s voice. I believe the desert was ushering us on. Update on Thacker Pass Lithium Mine There are roads carved around the perimeter of the site; Since an article appeared in the March 2021 issue of Desert the north edge of it is only four miles from the edge of some Report, some notable things have happened in relation to what Pahrump homes. The roads demonstrate what the geologist at will become the first new lithium mine in the US in decades. our first rally lectured on: the top layer of soil is rock and li- Following the Record of Decision, signed by the BLM in Janu- chen, and it is holding everything in. The perimeter roads have ary 2021, this mine at Thacker Pass in north-central Nevada unleashed a soft, red dust. has received a great deal of attention in the media1,2,3,4. Both Shannon Salter, Nipton CA environmental and social impacts associated with the mine have been pointed out. At the same time, two federal court suits have been filed against this final Record of Decision5,6 with the The Nevada Wind Project that Will Not Die intent of stopping the mine operation. One has been brought by a coalition of environmental groups, and the other by rancher Since Nevada passed the difficult to achieve “50 Percent Renew- Ed Bartell of nearby Kings Valley. able Portfolio Standard by 2030” mandate, every square inch A Sierra Club group with title “Future of Lithium” has been of public lands in the Silver State is seen as a potential site for formed with staff-person John Dunmore at the helm, with the wind, solar, or geothermal generation by developers. task of producing a guidance document for review by July 1 of Crescent Peak Wind, LLC, a subsidiary of Swedish Com- this year. Lithium extraction technology is developing rapidly, pany Eolus, whose proposed wind project was denied by the and there are now at least four methods to consider: evapora- Department of Interior in November 2018 due to innumerable tive concentration of lithium in pools of pumped brine; tradi- conflicts, is now trying to restart the permitting process. The tional open-pit mining from clay-like formations (e.g., Thacker company claims all conditions that were the basis for denial Pass); extraction by chemical processes from pumped brine; will be mitigated. The project, now called Kulning* Wind, will and extraction from existing waste-rock heaps from previous have a smaller footprint with up to sixty-eight turbines rang- mining for other minerals. ing in height from 590 feet to 760 feet. The project would be In the midst of this mine controversy, we have watched as bordered on the north by State Highway 164, would be just two the Biden administration has announced ambitious plans to miles west of historic Walking Box Ranch, and would be just confront the climate crisis. Lithium resources for batteries are across the road from Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness. In implied in these plans. Therefore, the environmental community and the Sierra Club must have an informed approach to new lithium mining that preserves environmental values, protects communities, and looks toward a circular economy for metals while not significantly impeding the energy transition. David von Seggern, former chair of the Toiyabe Chapter

References cited in these articles may be found in the Notes section on the Desert Report website at www.desertreport.org.

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 17 BY LINDA CASTRO CONSERVATION BILLS BEFORE CONGRESS Good, bad, and – action is uncertain

WHILE ONE WOULD THINK that our Good Bills Rule, thus codifying the existing ad- members of Congress would be too busy Some bills that have been intro- ministrative protections and providing with COVID and the financial fallout that duced in this Congress that would bene- permanent protection for many IRAs. has resulted from it to deal with other fit public lands are the following: issues, but that is not the case. They have H.R. 479 – California Central Coast already introduced a number of bills H.R. 279/S. 877 – Roadless Area Conser- Conservation Act in this 117th Congress that would be vation Act of 2021 Would establish a moratorium on both good and bad for public lands. This U.S. Forest Services (USFS) lands oil and gas leasing on public land on article is intended to provide a synopsis that do not have roads are referred the Central Coast of California until the of some of the standouts. to as roadless areas. When the USFS Bureau of Land Management (BLM) One should keep in mind that it is inventories one of its roadless areas to prepares a Supplemental Environ- extremely unlikely that the “bad” bills determine if it is eligible for a wilderness mental Impact Statement for the 2019 sponsored by U.S. Representatives will designation under The Wilderness Act BLM Central Coast Resource Manage- move in the House of Representatives. of 1964, that area is referred to as an In- ment Plan for Oil and Gas Leasing and One reason for this is that the Chairman ventoried Roadless Area (IRA). IRAs hold Development. After BLM publishes its of the House Natural Resources Com- important intact habitat, especially for new EIS, the Environmental Protection mittee, a Committee that needs to hold a endemic and rare species, and are some Agency (EPA) must review and publish hearing on bills related to public lands, of the wildest remaining places in our comments on it. If the EPA identifies is not likely to even allow the “bad” bills forests. However, IRAs do not receive any significant environmental impacts or to have a hearing. Even if he were, the protection under The Wilderness Act. determines that there is insufficient likelihood of those bills being approved The Roadless Area Conservation information to assess the environmental by the Committee, so that the entire Rule (RACR), which is a USFS policy impacts of oil or gas development in House could vote on the bills, is also that was approved in 2001, provides a the planning area, then the BLM must extremely unlikely. Finally, given that significant degree of protection to some consult with the EPA before proceeding Democrats continue to hold a majority wilderness-eligible IRAs in our national with federal oil or gas leasing in the in the House of Representatives, it is forests. While not as protective as a wil- planning area. unlikely that the House would pass any derness designation, the policy prevents of these bills. Conversely, all of these new road construction and some other H.R. 693 – San Gabriel Mountains reasons make it much more likely for forms of development. The USFS manag- Foothills and Rivers Protection Act the “good” bills to receive a hearing and es 3,888,707 acres of IRAs in California Would add about 31,000 acres of be passed by the House. that are protected by the RACR. Since the new wilderness and wilderness addi- The Senate is a different story. RACR is an administrative policy, it can tions and about 45 miles of wild and Although Democrats have a majority, be revoked by the USFS in the future. scenic rivers in the Angeles National they do not have enough votes to defeat a There have been proposals in the recent Forest. It would add approximately filibuster. Even if a “good” bill is able to get past by members of Congress to weaken 110,000 acres to the existing San Gabriel an Energy and Natural Resources Com- or rescind the RACR. That is the primary Mountains National Monument result- mittee hearing, there is a slim chance that reason that the Roadless Area Conser- ing in the protection of the Upper Los it could be passed by the Senate. For that vation Act is critically important. It Angeles River wastershed and a number reason, our public lands champions in the would prohibit road construction, road of the important objects for which the Senate will be looking to “attach” their reconstruction, or logging in an invento- Monument was originally designat- bills to “must pass” bills or look for other ried roadless area, where those activities ed. It would also designate a National creative ways to get their bills passed. are currently prohibited by the Roadless Recreation Area (approximately 50,000

18 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 acres) in the foothills outside of the H.R. 972 – Wildlife Refuge Conserva- Santa Monica Mountains National Recre- Forest in the San Gabriel Valley, the Rio tion and Recreation for the Commu- ation Area (currently managed by NPS) Hondo and San Gabriel River corri- nity Act to include the Rim of the Valley Corridor dors, and the Puente Chino Hills, which Would direct the U.S. Fish and Wild- (about 190,000 acres in the San Fernan- would connect, protect, and create open life Service to establish a national wildlife do and San Gabriel Valleys, Griffith Park, spaces outside of the Forest that would refuge by the name of the Western Riv- Hansen Dam Recreation Area, Sepulve- be more easily accessed by underserved erside County National Wildlife Refuge. da Basin, Ernest Debs Regional Park, El communities. The Refuge would consist of lands within Pueblo De Los Angeles Historical Monu- The House already passed this bill the Western Riverside County Multiple ment, Eaton Canyon and other areas in on 2/26/21. It is expected to be reintro- Species Habitat Conservation Plan Area. Pasadena). duced in the Senate soon by Senator Of note is the fact that this bill’s sponsor The House already passed this bill Padilla as part of the Protecting Unique is a Republican (Rep. Calvert). on 2/26/21. It is expected to be reintro- and Beautiful Lands by Investing in duced soon in the Senate by Senator California (PUBLIC) Lands Act. H.R. 973 – Central Coast Heritage Pro- Feinstein. tection Act H.R. 878 – Northwest California Would designate about 288,000 Bad Bills Wilderness, Recreation, and Working acres of wilderness and potential Some bills that have been intro- Forests Act wilderness in the Los Padres National duced in this Congress that would be Would add about 260,000 acres of Forest and Carrizo Plain National Mon- bad for public lands are the following: new wilderness and wilderness addi- ument and designate about 159 miles tions in Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trin- of streams as wild and scenic rivers. It H.R. 218 – Saving America’s Energy ity Counties, and about 480 miles of wild would also designate about 35,000 acres Future Act and scenic rivers. It would establish the of national scenic areas and create the Would prohibit the Department of In- 729,000-acre South Fork Trinity River Condor Trail National Scenic Trail which terior and U.S. Forest Service from issuing Restoration Area to restore the forests, would provide a 400-mile through-hik- moratoriums on issuing new oil and gas habitat, and fisheries in this significant ing route in the Los Padres National leases and permits on lands the agencies watershed. The proposal would also help Forest. manage. restore fire-resilient forests in wilder- The House already passed this bill ness areas and clean up public lands on 2/26/21. It is expected to be reintro- H.R. 247 – Acre In, Acre Out Act that have been damaged by illegal tres- duced in the Senate soon by Senator Would prohibit the Bureau of Land pass activity such as marijuana grows. Padilla as part of the Protecting Unique Management, U.S. Forest Service, and The House already passed this bill and Beautiful Lands by Investing in National Park Service from having a on 2/26/21. It is expected to be reintro- California (PUBLIC) Lands Act. net increase in the total acreage under duced in the Senate soon by Senator their jurisdiction. Any land acquisitions Padilla as part of the Protecting Unique H.R. 1075 – Rim of the Valley Corridor would have to be “offset” by an equiva- and Beautiful Lands by Investing in Preservation Act lent number of acres of land being sold California (PUBLIC) Lands Act. Would adjust the boundary of the or transferred.

H.R. 629 - Marine Access and State Transparency (MAST) Act Would require the President to obtain Congressional approval and certify compliance with environmental review requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, before a national monument could be designated on public land. Would also prohibits the President from declaring coastal/marine national monuments unless: • such a declaration is specifically autho- rized by statute, • the President has submitted a proposal to make the declaration to the governor of each state or territory located within 200 nautical miles of that area, • each governor submits to the President a notice that the legislature of that state or Waldron Tree and Mt. Baldy from Pacific Crest Trail, San Gabriel Mountains territory has approved the proposal, and National Monument. Photo by Steve Boland via Creative Commons PAGE 21

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 19 THE CLIMATE COSTS OF TOURISM PAGE 3

at CA Desert National Parks, Desert Re- and operations budgets, managers just Characteristics of Locavism port, December 2020) But the pandemic don’t have the resources to contend with also revealed the lack of resilience in these use pressures. Many new visitors the public lands system after decades of don’t know, or don’t care, about the com- Low Carbon disinvestment. plex behavior rules and norms: where Locavist development is, first and In the desert Southwest, people and where not to camp, drive, hike, foremost, low-carbon tourism. It flocked to public lands in record num- collect, build fires, etc. Already overex- involves not only shifting toward low bers, many for the first time. Fueled tended land managers just don’t have carbon modes of transport, but also by social media, outdoor spaces have the time or resources to educate them. reducing the need for travel by ensur- been critical to visitors coping with the In Death Valley, managers reported that ing a range of quality local destina- pandemic. Weekend use levels became during one three-week period, staff and tions. This mode and distance shift is the norm during weekdays, and average volunteers had to clean up 131 unburied critical if we are to achieve any true weekends became more like the busiest human waste sites, 77 illegal fires, and emission reductions. Investment in holidays. The pressure was magnified 80 cases of vandalism.* local mass transit infrastructure would by the fact that many campgrounds While these local problems are further reduce carbon emissions and and outdoor recreation destinations a challenge, there is a bright side. All increase amenity values close to home. remained closed during much of the these new visitors are NOT getting on pandemic, which concentrated even airplanes. Even with the gas consumed Local Ecology, Economy, and more pressure on those that managed to in their vehicles, the carbon footprint Culture stay open (An Interview with Death Val- is a fraction of that if they would have Locavist development is framed by ley NP Superintendent Mike Reynolds, travelled by air. And a growing number the ecological potentials and limits Desert Report, March 2020). of them are finding ways to decarbonize of a region, and suited to the culture Most of this pandemic visitation their ground travel by using electric and values of the community. In turn, pressure in the desert Southwest came vehicles and human powered modes. locavist destinations are designed to from urban dwellers hit hard by covid That demand is fueling a revolution in engage visitors through place-rele- restrictions. Either because state and alternative transportation infrastructure vant and meaningful experiences that national parks were too far away, were like bike lanes that make local com- explore local nature, people, places, closed, or they couldn’t get reserva- munities more attractive for outdoor history, and/or culture. tions, many visitors turned to national recreation, which could reduce the need forest and BLM lands. Unable to get into to get in a car and drive to outdoor rec- Local Food, Energy and Materials campgrounds, camping in “dispersed” reation areas. The success of the “slow food” locations boomed. As people discover, or rediscover, movement exemplifies this shift. A With the increased use came huge their homeplaces, local entrepreneurs similar “slow energy” and “slow mate- problems. Managers contended with are starting to figure out how to turn rials” approach is steadily emerging. illegal off-road use, overflowing camp- this interest into business opportunity. One way to conceive of locavism is grounds and parking lots, cultural Local tourism providers are finding as “slow tourism.” resource damage, mountains of trash, ways to make local places feel exciting abandoned campfires, and increased and new for people. Born of the neces- Human-scaled crime. After years of cuts to personnel sity to connect with nearby residents Locavism embraces human-powered travel combined with mass transit. In the transportation planning par- lance, this is known as mode shift, or changing the relative reliance on one higher GHG-emitting form of travel for another, such as from commercial airline to train, or from single-occupant vehicles to public transit.

Homegrown Solutions Locavist development relies on locally developed solutions uniquely suited to bioregions and homeplaces, over national and state standards and codes. Electric Vehicle Charging Station in Death Valley National Park Photo by John Kukreja, Oasis at Death Valley

20 DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 CONSERVATION BILLS BEFORE CONGRESS PAGE 19

rather than distant tourists, locavist • the declaration is substantially the requirements. Specifically, the bill ex- messaging can be seen where local pro- same as the proposal. cludes from these requirements (1) the viders try to connect with local interest Would also prohibit the Department development and approval of a vegeta- in exploring these places more deeply. of the Interior or the Department of tion management, facility inspection, And while domestic airline travel is Commerce, with respect to a coastal/ma- and operation and maintenance plan; starting to pick up, it’s looking more and rine national monument, from imple- and (2) the implementation of routine more like this summer’s international menting any restrictions on the public activities conducted under such a plan. tourism business will be a bust, owing to use of such a national monument until The bill would also prohibit the Forest uncertainties with covid outbreaks, vac- the expiration of an appropriate review Service from considering extraordinary cination rates, and closures. This means period providing for public input and circumstances (as is normally the case another locavist driven summer season congressional approval. when they consider bypassing environ- for the outdoor recreation industry and mental review). land managers. With that comes the H.R. 939 – Combustion Avoidance opportunity to further deepen people’s along Rural Roads (CARR) Act H.R. 1174 – Forest Information Reform connection to these places. Hopefully This bill was previously introduced (FIR) Act we’ll also see a political consensus start in the prior Congress and has been Would nullify a 2015 Ninth Court to emerge on reinvesting in the steward- reintroduced in this Congress. It would decision (which the U.S. Supreme Court ship and management of these places, exempt wildfire mitigation activities refused to review). It specifies that including protection of additional areas conducted within 300 feet of a road neither the Department of Agriculture that can then help meet the increased from all laws governing environmental nor the Department of the Interior may demand. review of proposed agency actions or be required to reinitiate consultation on Marcel Proust once said, ‘The real protection of endangered or threatened a land management plan when a species voyage of discovery consists not in species. Mitigation activities are those is listed as threatened or endangered, seeking new landscapes but in having that are conducted by Department of the critical habitat is designated, or new new eyes.’ This change in worldview, Interior or the Department of Agricul- information concerning a listed species almost unthinkable in the beforetimes, ture on federal land that is administered or critical habitat becomes available. may turn out to be one of the most by the National Park System, the Bureau profound societal changes that come of Land Management, or the Forest H.R. 2390 – to establish the Southern from the pandemic. The more we look Service. Mitigation activities include Border Wall National Monument at it, the more we see that travel is not forest thinning, hazardous fuel reduc- (Bill text not yet available at the all that it’s cracked up to be, and with tion, prescribed burning, and vegetation time this article was written, but the an open mind we can find wonder and management. name suggests that it will be a bad bill.) adventure right out our front doors. With our newfound locavist knowledge, H.R. 940 – Clearing Lines along Electri- Linda Castro is the Assistant Policy we will be better equipped to embrace cal At-Risk Zones Director for the California Wilderness our responsibilities close to home and The bill would generally exclude Coalition (Cal-Wild). She’s a recovering resist the temptations to flee to faraway specified forest management activities attorney who doesn’t miss her old job places. This change will involve enor- from certain environmental assessment and who loves working to protect and mous challenges, but if tourism can stop and environmental impact statement conserve California’s wild places. being “out there” and start being “right here,” then we will be one step closer to living rightly in the world.

Steve Hollenhorst is a Professor and Dean of the Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University. He is the co-founder of the University of Idaho McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS), and the West Virginia Land Trust. His research is in the areas of land use policy and management, land trusts and conservation easements, and environmental leadership.

* https://tinyurl.com/3577dxrv. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Photo by NPCA Photos

DESERT REPORT JUNE 2021 21 Outings

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